S moke S ignals
MAY 15, 2018
7
Membership briefed on Human Resources, TERO
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
The Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde currently employs
more than 1,500 people at its three
main sites – the Governance Cen-
ter, Spirit Mountain Casino and
Grand Ronde Station – and has a
significant effect on the local econ-
omy, Human Resources Director
Patrick Dempsey said during the
Sunday, May 6, General Council
meeting.
Dempsey and interim Tribal Em-
ployment Rights Office Manager
John Mercier briefed the member-
ship on their respective depart-
ments, which often collaborate in
helping Tribal members find jobs.
Dempsey said the Tribal govern-
ment currently employs 468 people
while the casino has 1,050 employ-
ees and Grand Ronde Station has
24 staff members.
“It’s a big population,” Dempsey
said. “All of that payroll supports
local economies. You have a gi-
gantic impact, which you already
know.”
However, Dempsey said, the casi-
no has approximately 50 to 70 open
positions and its optimal staffing
level is about 1,120 employees.
Dempsey said the tight job mar-
ket with the state unemployment
rate hovering at or below 4 percent
is affecting the number of appli-
cants the casino receives for open
positions. The casino once received
thousands of applications, but that
has now declined to hundreds.
Regarding positions at the Trib-
al government, Dempsey said the
Tribe is starting to see multiple
qualified Tribal members com-
peting for jobs, which results in
managers having to choose between
Tribal members for hires.
“I can tell you those have become
extremely competitive,” Dempsey
said about government jobs. A
result, he added, is that Tribal
members are now asserting that
they should have been hired over
the Tribal member who did get
offered the job.
Dempsey gave a survey of his
sions for the government.
Dempsey said there are
about 50 new Tribal em-
ployees monthly.
Mercier reported that
there are 372 people in
the TERO job skills bank
who represent 55 differ-
ent Tribes. He said that
TERO earned $185,845
in revenue in 2017.
During the first quarter
of 2018, TERO earned
$104,213.
Photo by Dean Rhodes
TERO charges a fee
Interim Tribal Employment Rights Office
on construction projects
Manager John Mercier, left, and Human
on the Reservation, such
Resources Department Manager Patrick
as the Chachalu muse-
Dempsey briefed the membership on their
um remodel, or within
respective departments during the Sunday, May a 60-mile radius of the
Reservation on Oregon
6, General Council meeting.
Department of Transpor-
department, which became a “one-
tation projects. Grand Ronde is one
stop shop” in August 2015 when
of three Tribes that have a TERO
the Employment Services building
memorandum of understanding
opened and the Human Resources
with the state.
departments at the Tribal govern-
Mercier said TERO is currently
ment and casino merged. Since
concentrating on training people to
then, Human Resources has placed
work in the construction industry,
the job application process online
which “is really needing trained
and started a Spirit Mountain Ca-
employees.”
sino careers Facebook page.
The TERO Commission, which
“We help people from the time
oversees the Tribe’s TERO pro-
they apply until the time we say
gram, consists of Russell Wilkinson,
goodbye,” Dempsey said. “Every-
Diana George, Camille Mercier,
thing that an employee does or
Matt Thomas and Stephanie Craig.
needs while they are employed, most
Mercier said that TERO works
of that comes through Human Re-
collaboratively with Social Ser-
sources in some way, shape or form.”
vices, Human Resources, con-
Working in the Tribe’s favor
tractors, schools and the Oregon
when recruiting employees is the
Department of Transportation to
generous benefits package that
“find the best employment oppor-
goes along with working for the
tunities for all our clients.”
Tribe. “That is a big plus for us,”
Dempsey said.
Dempsey said there are 350 dis-
tinct job descriptions within the
Tribal government because jobs are
so specialized, from being a nurse to
being an aquatic biologist to being
an attorney. “It’s very diverse,” he
said.
Because of the turnover at the
casino and the government, Human
Resources holds weekly new hire
training sessions for the casino
and monthly new hire training ses-
Ad created by George Valdez
Dempsey and Mercier fielded five
questions from the membership
after their presentations.
In other action, it was announced
that Tribal Council nominations
will occur at 11 a.m. Sunday, June
24, in the Community Center. The
next General Council meeting will
be held in September.
Veronica Gaston, Butch Paraz-
oo and Virginia Wheeler won the
$100 door prizes while Grace Lan-
cour-Joles, Peter Grout, Genifer
Grout, Linda Olson and Maxine
Clements won the $50 door prizes.
Simone Auger and Debi Anderson
won two necklaces donated by Trib-
al Council Secretary Jon A. George.
Gaston said her winnings will go
toward paying for the restoration
work she performed on the Saige
Selwyn memorial on the west side
of Grand Ronde Road.
After the General Council meet-
ing, Tribal members participated
in the third and final Community
Input meeting that sought recom-
mendations for advisory votes to
be placed on the September Tribal
Council ballot.
Tribal Council Vice Chair Chris
Mercier said Tribal Council will
likely decide by the end of June
which recommended topics make
it to the ballot. Last year, Tribal
members were asked for their in-
put about enrollment issues, Elder
housing and marijuana-based busi-
ness opportunities.
The entire meeting can be viewed
on the Tribal website www.gran-
dronde.org by clicking on the News
tab and then Video.